As I was driving along various interstate highways this afternoon, traveling from home to the conference where I'll be spending the next couple of days, I noticed small signs placed along the roads at infrequent intervals. Alongside the usual "Eisenhower Interstate System" plaques, there are now plaques commemorating the 50th anniversary of the system--which took place in 2006, though I don't remember seeing the signs at all until this trip--and thus far, I haven't seen any similar signs anywhere but Illinois. It'll be interesting to see if I see any of them when I cross the river into Missouri on Tuesday for the second day of the conference.It isn't the anniversary that's confusing me, though, or even the fact that the signs don't seem to have gotten put up in time for it. It's the caption that's on them that's got me scratching my head: "A Symbol of Freedom." Huh?
When I think of symbols of freedom, I think of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Statue of Liberty, the Magna Charta, the Liberty Bell, the Emancipation Proclamation. Stuff like that. A system of highways, not so much. I'll wager I'm not alone in that, either. It would be interesting to see the polling results on what the phrase "symbols of freedom" conjures up in people's minds, both here and around the world. I'd frankly be amazed if the interstate highway system even made it into the top thousand responses.
Perhaps, in the mind of whoever it was that designed the signage I saw today, the interstates represent the freedom of U.S. citizens to travel around the country without restrictions. That was the only associational link I could come up with between freedom and the interstate system--and it's quite a stretch. Or maybe they were just looking for something quasi-inspirational to put on the signs they'd already ordered for the 50th anniversary, and some lame-brain in the Department of Transportation thought maybe linking it to patriotism would work. (That does seem like the sort of thought you might expect a Bu$hevik appointee to have, doesn't it?)
The interstate highway system was originally conceived as a way of quickly moving troops -- as in military forces -- from one part of the country to another in case we were ever invaded by the Reds or the Yellow Hoard or something like that out of the McCarthy era. That's probably why they labeled it a "symbol of freedom."
Posted by: Mustang Bobby | Friday, 06 February 2009 at 03:08